Comfort Zone

[Chava]

Yes, I agree. There was too much going on in October for him to risk going out on the hunt. Also the Jack the Ripper thing may well have thrown him for a bit of a loop. He goes to bed an anonymous but successful hunter and wakes up with a natty new nickname courtesy of someone he doesn't even know. I'm convinced that's why he sent the From Hell letter--to show the world that he was the killer and he wasn't interested in glib nicknames. If it was a hoax I would have expected it to be signed 'Jack the Ripper'.

[bolo]

Hi Chava,

it took me a while to figure out what you mean with "It looks like the Ripper had very close ties to the LVP. It looks to me like he probably lives there.". After a few moments, it dawned on me that you probably meant to write "East End of London" instead of "LVP" as the latter is short for "late Victorian period", i.e. the last years of Queen Victoria's reign when the East End murderers took place.

Well, "Jack" may have lived there but personally I don't take this as a given, anyone can become familiar with a certain area after a while, even though I find the geo-profiling approach quite interesting.

About the pause between Eddowes and Kelly, the presence of the police may have played a major role here but there are more possible explanations. The murderer could have injured himself during the fierce mutilation of Kate's body and thus was unable to strike again for several weeks.

I've mentioned this possibility a while ago in another thread and someone suggested checking out the infirmary registers for likely candidates. I haven't done it yet (don't know where and how to start to be honest) but maybe it could be worth it.

Regards,

Boris

[Chava]

You're right! I was having a brain cramp and it obviously lasted all day

As for the injury, I agree. It's a good theory. I always thought that was the reason he took the piece of apron, to wrap around a cut finger. But there were traces of feces on it, so it really is more probable that he used it to wipe his hand or carry away a trophy. (If so, he must have dropped his little trophy bag during the whole Liz Stride thing. Because he had to have brought with him something to stash his momentos, given the circumstances...)

That having been said, my fantasy has always been that he nicked himself during the MJK murder and said nick turned rapidly to septicaemia and so he died courtesy of one of his victims. And in fact that is a highly possible scenario.

[Fisherman]

Chava:

"my fantasy has always been that he nicked himself during the MJK murder and said nick turned rapidly to septicaemia and so he died courtesy of one of his victims. And in fact that is a highly possible scenario."

A fascinating suggestion, Chava! One objection, though; the Kelly killing is reasonably the only deed where he could work for a long time and in all probability by a good source of light, coming from the fire. If he ever had a god chance of staying away from nicking himself, this would be it. Then again, the very substantial amunt of cutting may have worn him or made him sloppy of course, so who knows ... maybe a check for the casualties in septicaemia in the nearby hospitals could turn up something?

The best,
Fisherman

[bolo]

Fisherman, Chava,

as the mutilations inflicted on the victims grew worse with every murder (not counting Liz Stride), the risk of injury also rose dramatically, even if our man had considerable medical knowledge (slaughterers know of the injury risk as well, that's why they always wear protective gloves, even if they are very experienced). A simple slip of the knife on a bone would have been enough to cause a nasty wound on one of the killer's hands, arms or even legs.

However, it doesn't take a gaping wound to cause sepsis or tetanus, a cut too light to notice would have been enough. There are reports of people who died of tetanus after they got pricked by a thorn of a rose, after all. Not sure if such an example is applicable here, though, I'm speaking as a complete medical layman.

So... if one would want to check out various infirmary or hospital registers, where would be a good place to start?

Regards,

Boris

[Chava]

Bolo, Fisherman, here's why I think he had a good chance of catching something nasty. He's delving around in people's guts. Which means he's into the digestive system. We know there were feces on the bloody piece of apron. So for sure he was working in what can only be called a contaminated field. He could have cut himself while with Eddowes, and that could have been the reason for the hiatus. However a cut like that, in pre-antibiotic times, could well prove fatal. I think it's very likely that he sliced through MJK's abdomen, encountered feces on the way, and managed to cut his finger/hand/whatever in the process, thus forcing fecal matter into the wound. As Bolo has pointed out, he may not even have noticed at the time. But something like that would kill him, and kill him quickly.

[Fisherman]

Well, Chava, I´m no doctor, and so the the more subtle aspects of this is something I would not want to guess about. But I do know that bloodpoisoning may well be a very quick process, and I think that your suggestion remains a fascinating one, just like I said before. Not least because of the involved element of "divine justice", of course!

The best,
Fisherman

[bolo]

Hi Chava,

As Bolo has pointed out, he may not even have noticed at the time. But something like that would kill him, and kill him quickly.

yes and no. As far as I know, a minor sepsis does not have to be lethal if the immune system of the patient is strong enough. Of course a bad case of sepsis results in the certain death of the patient if he or she does not get treated with antibiotics, antimycotics, blood transfusions, etc., or if the patient already was ill before.

Maybe the killer cut himself in the Eddowes case and caught a minor sepsis which he battled for a few weeks, then went out to kill Mary Kelly, got infected again and died from a septic shock shortly afterwards.

Speculations, speculations...

Regards,

Boris

[Chava]

Septic shock sounds good to me. I'd settle for septic shock!